I'll give up and join the drama club

My little guy, Bogey, started a new chapter in his life about two months ago. He got a big boy bed. We are not toddler bed people. We go for the gusto and buy full out twin beds so they have plenty of room to grow. And he looks so small in it. There's only one problem.



He. Will. Not. Stay. In. BED!!!



I encountered this same problem with Dev and Calvin, and we got through relatively unscathed. The Hubby and I endorsed the Super Nanny approach and quietly, but promptly put the little miscreant back in his or her bed. Bogey has been different. He learned quickly that if he goes out to mom and dad, he just gets put back in bed. SO he's started playing with the toys, reading books, and worst of all, climbing into Dev and Calvin's beds. Argh! Nothing disturbs the kidless peace of an after bed evening like the yell through the monitor, "Bogey's in my bed!"

Of course, getting caught in another bed the first few times was no fun for Bogey, so now when the call sounds out, Bogey knows he has exactly 7.3 seconds to get back into his own bed before mom or dad comes charging in. And he times it well. Then when I say, "Did you get out of bed?" he smiles up at me and shakes his head innocently. The Hubby even went so far as to suggest that maybe Dev and Calvin were getting a kick out of seeing mom and dad run into the room and were crying wolf, so to speak.



I thought about it a long time. And I struck upon an epiphany. I set the pack n' play up next to his bed and when he got out of his bed, I wordlessly grabbed him, his pillow and his blankey, and put him down in the pack n' play. Surely being in a baby crib again would just irk him enough to stay in his own bed.



Surely....Surely.



NO. This is Bogey we're talking about here.



He informed me today at nap time that he actually WANTED to sleep in the baby crib.

I said, "Don't you want to sleep in the big boy bed?"

He shook his head.

"Aren't you a big boy?"

He nodded.

"Then let's sleep in your big boy bed."

He threw his blankey and pillow in the crib and yelled (he was grumpy. it was nap time, bear in mind), "NO! Baby crib!!"

So I gave in and let him sleep there, but noted to myself that the crib was not working.



Tonight I had another epiphany. I put him to bed in his big boy bed. Then left the room. In 30 seconds I was back, totally playing up the praising. "OH! You're STILL in bed!!!! What a good boy you are! Yeah! Give me five! Thanks for staying in bed! Oh! I love it when you stay in bed!"

Then I left, blowing kisses. 30 seconds later, I went in again and did the same thing.

And then again 30 seconds after that. A minute after I left the third time, I heard the yell, "Bogey's in my bed!" ugh. So I put on my most pitiful face and schlumped into the room hanging my head and sighing heavily (honestly, it was hard not to laugh). I put Bogey back in his bed and sat at the end of it and said, "You got out of bed. That makes me soooo sad." I hung my head and sighed again. Bogey put his sweet little hand on my chin and raised it up so he could look at my face. I did a sad bottom-lip jut. When Bogey saw that I wasn't just kidding around, his little face crumpled and he threw himself on his pillow and sobbed. I left, thinking I had made my point. A few seconds later, a VERY distraught little boy came out to me and crawled into my lap, not able to contain his grief.

So I held him. Super Nanny would say that you're not supposed to. (Although I'm not sure she would approve of my theatrics either.) I held him because I knew he was hurting and so, so, so sad. And honestly, I was touched that he was so distraught because I was sad. I carried him back to his bed, and we sat on the edge of his bed cuddling until his grief was contained. I laid him down, told him I loved him, and left.

Maybe the cry-fest wore him out. Or maybe, I got my point across. Either way, he is now asleep in his big boy bed. And the crib is vacant.



Sigh. Of. Relief.



I hope that he learned tonight to stay in bed. I'm thinking though that I'll probably be running the gauntlet with this again tomorrow.

But for tonight, I am so grateful that I could hold him close, kiss him, and comfort him, know that he loves me so much, and that I love him. Glad that for tonight, he's still my little guy.

I'm back

You didn't even know I was gone, did you?

I went to visit my sisters' on the other side of the country. It was a root beer float lovin', board game playin', late night talks, hurricane simulatin' rip-snortin' good time.

When I saw my sisters, we ran to each other and fell into a big group hug and cried. There is a big part of me that is missing when I am not with them. My sisters bring out the best in me. They make me laugh until my sides hurt and I'm sure my cheeks are going to fall off. They dip into my emotions and make me figure things out about myself that I couldn't figure out alone. They make me stay up until disgraceful hours discussing the intricacies of life. I love my sisters.

It was even better that I got to go alone. Without kids. Just me. Five hours on the plane, just to myself. aaahhh! If I felt drowsy, I could just take a nap.
If I wanted to sit and do a crossword puzzle, or read a book, I didn't have to take care of anyone first. Bliss. I remember a time when that was my life, but it's a distant, hazy memory.

While I was there, kidless, discussing the intricacies of life, I had a lot of time to think. We started talking about dark secrets. Do you have any? I'm sorry to say that I'm too boring for deep, dark secrets. My worst one was that I sometimes brush my teeth in the shower (my sister then admitted to sometimes cleaning the shower while she's in the shower. That way, you get a longer shower, and the shower's clean when you get out. Genius.) But I've thought of one that I should confess. Here goes: I have a hard time staying disciplined (whew! Glad I got that off my chest). seriously, when my alarm goes off in the morning, I usually turn it off and go back to sleep. When my alarm goes off at night to tell me to go to bed (oh, don't you set your alarm to go to bed? no? huh. I guess it's just me then.) I usually just shut it off and go back to what I was doing.

I try to put up a good, perfect facade that I do so many things, but the truth is that I am tenacious at what I am doing at any given moment. I'm blogging, I don't want to do anything else. I read books in hours instead of days because I don't want to put it down until I'm done. If I have a sewing project, my house falls apart until it's done. On clean the house day, I put my blinders on and plow through until it's done.
I don't think this is all bad. I think tenacity is a good skill to have, but it does come with its pitfalls.
As a mother and homemaker, it is absolutely not good to put the blinders on and ignore everything else until what I'm doing is done. That's when Bogey washes dishes in the toilet and then cuts his own hair. As a mother, blinders aren't good. Maybe if I was a fast talkin' career gal, blinders would be good. Then I'd be an excellent employee with great benefits and a raise every year. I'm a mother. I don't get raises. (I do the raising. ha ha!)

But I think I'm doing ok, for the most part. I mean, my kids are happy and healthy, and they know that I love them. My house is clean, mostly, and I work hard to make sure there is good food on the table (with the occasional pizza thrown in). I just think that, like most of you, I have room for improvement. That's ok (I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to me now. It's ok, Erin that you are not perfect. Halt the guilt!). I'm also telling me that while I was kidless, it was nice to focus so much time on what I wanted to do. I wrote a lot more. I read those novels I've been hoping to get to. I slept in. And that's ok, too. Now If I could just figure out a way to mesh Kidless me with Homemaker me. Then I would be . . . . KidMaker Erin--wait, I'm already that. ok, then KidHome Erin? LessMaker Erin? HomeLess Erin?

When I became a mother, it was like I had to crowd to make room for a new person. No, I mean, inside me. No, I mean, another me. And the two of me have been battling for stage time every since.

Homemaker Erin demands that I bake and cook and clean and sew and can and do all things motherly. I like her. She's smart. She's kind. And she smells like homemade bread. She plans wonderfully educational activities for her children and is amazing at picking mushy ground in cheerios out of the carpet.

Kidless Erin demands that I read and write and start no less than five at home businesses. She has a perfect haircut and flawless makeup. She's put together, well-rested and confident. I like her, too. She's interesting to talk to.

Homemaker Erin and Kidless Erin don't hate each other. They just have a hard time getting along in the same body. And sadly, Kidless Erin has lost many a battle.

Bogey just told me that it was dinner time, and that he wanted Pizza Ice Cream for dinner.

So. . . .

duty calls

How to you mesh KidLess You and Homemaker You?

The obligatory slide show

I am not naive to the fact that most people don't care about pictures of other people's kids, pets, or family vacations. I happen to be one of those people that gravitates towards a picture, no matter who is in it.

If you are one of the former people, and don't care about our vacation or the cute/funny things my kids did, go ahead and read the next blog on your list. I won't be hurt. Promise. Not for long anyway.

SO...we went to Southern Cali for a week, to escape the heat of our own semi permanent state.

It was a fun trip.

Here are some pictures we took in the car when the boredom was about to break us.

Dev is happy as usual

Calvin didn't want his picture taken

Bogey was willing

for the most part

Bogey decided that he wanted to take my picture, too. I was impressed that he actually did it without breaking the camera. (not because I think I am ugly, but because he tends to crush things he's holding)

I love this picture of The Hubby and Calvin sitting in our hotel watching the cars go by

Proof of where I was. See, I don't lie. much

Bogey was fascinated with the sharks.

This is a fun bounce-house-place-thing in the Sesame Street section of the park. The kids absolutely LOVED it there. I highly recommend it for small kids. There is an awesome net/jungle gym thing that even little Calvin could go through by himself. (I went through with him about 5 times before I exited, huffing and puffing like the really out of shape person that I am. After that, he and Dev went through it over and over all by themselves.)

Holy crap...a leetle peeg

Then we spent a day at the beach.

Dev is jumping the waves with her sticky-situation-getter-out-of-er, Al. He lifted her up when the waves got too high.

This is as wet as I got (and it was fabulous)

The Hubby, Calvin, and Bogey liked playing in the sand. See our sand castle? (Calvin played in the water for a little while, and also Bogey liked to eat the sand, too.)

At Legoland, I met my new boyfriend (isn't he a dream boat?)

The Hubby's ok with it.


At Legoland, they have tons of figures made completely of Lego's. I take comfort in the fact that I would NOT have the patience to do that job.

Bogey loves "Bob da biwda"

some more crazy examples of the Legosintricity:

This concludes the presentation. This happy family vacation slide show has been brought to you today by the letter L and the letter S, and the number 3. For the benefit of future viewers, please leave feedback at the end of the column. Thank you, come again, pay us big bucks, be happy about it, and have a nice day.

Ode to family vacation

We went out of town.
to Sea World.
and just got back in last night.
My house is an utter disaster.
There is no food in the fridge.
But bags and crumbs all over the counter.
and ants.
The living room is full of bags,
and the clothes that exploded out of them.
I have no clean socks.
and it's been raining all week.
the garden doubled in size
peas are coming
and beans
and corn
and zucchini
cabbage is ripe for the picking.
Calvin had leg cramps last night.
Which he gets when he runs around too much
like he did at Sea World.
I got up with him
and warmed up the rice pack
it helped
the sun was rising as soon as I laid down again
and I had to teach Gospel Doctrine this morning.
The chairs weren't set up.
So I spent most of sacrament meeting taking care of it.
Bogey helped.
Now my brain is mush
and my muscles are tense
and my eyes keep shutting.
Tonight's my night for some good sleep.
I'm going there now.
But it was fun
and I'll post pictures tomorrow.